Could You Live Without A Cell Phone? COULD I???

I mean, I guess I could. Sure! But why would I? To paraphrase the great George Costanza, “We’re trying to have a civilization here!” And, like it or not, cell phones have become a huge part of how we interact with society. Oh, what a world.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the new trend of people giving up their cell phones or, if not giving them up, downgrading to a pay-as-you-go service like Metro PCS. The primary reason that people are abandoning cell phones shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has a smartphone: the phone bill is too damn high.

Even though the WSJ points out that “overall, cellphone ownership among American adults is around 88%” and that “subscribers don’t appear to be dumping their plans in large numbers,” the high prices of iPhones and Droids have led to people looking for comparable service at far cheaper prices. What this means basically is “Good-bye, Verizon! And hello, Metro PCS!” The Journal reports that “in the second quarter, the number of cellphone subscribers on contract plans rose just 0.5% from the year before, to 217 million, according to UBS. The number of prepaid customers grew about 11% to 74 million.”

So, while most people haven’t left their cell phones completely behind, people seem to have been rethinking the huge amounts of money they spend each month to be able to sext each other. Not that you can really put a price on that, BUT STILL.

The Journal did have a few stories about people who had given up their phones. But the stories were kind of boring. You know the type, I went to meet my friend but we each went to a different Starbucks and then we couldn’t find each other! Meh. Boring.

I will say, though, that one of the commenters on the post really made me think. He mentioned how much someone could save by not having a cell phone plan over the course of thirty years. And, it was a LOT OF MONEY. Like over $100,000. I’d like that money! But could I give up my phone? How much are sexts worth to me? How much are they worth to society at large? I just don’t know if I can put a number on that. I just don’t know.